Sterling K. Brown (‘This Is Us’) could become only the 3rd black actor ever to win 2 Emmys as a lead

07 July 2019

by Daniel Montgomery

Gold Derby

Sterling K. Brown (“This Is Us”) won Best Drama Actor in 2017, but then lost to Matthew Rhys (“The Americans”) in 2018. Rhys is out of the way this year, though, since “The Americans” has ended, so could Brown come back to win more gold? If he does, it would be a rare feat. Only two black actors in Primetime Emmy history have ever won multiple awards as a lead.

The first to do so was Bill Cosby, whose groundbreaking legacy on television now comes with a big fat asterisk. But long before his crimes were widely known he won Best Drama Actor three years in a row for “I Spy” (1966-68). It would take almost 40 years for another black actor to join that club, and it was a man Brown paid tribute to in his own acceptance speech in 2017: Andre Braugher.